Linux

48323 readers

629 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
No misinformation
No NSFW content
No hate speech, bigotry, etc

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

AgreeableLandscape@lemmy.ml

nooter692@lemmy.ml

MarcellusDrum@lemmy.ml

cypherpunks@lemmy.ml

cyclohexane@lemmy.ml

d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz

127

Why aren't more people using NixPKGs? (lemmy.world)

submitted 9 months ago by clemdemort@lemmy.world to c/linux@lemmy.ml

128 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Distro agnostic packages like flatpaks and appimages have become extremely popular over the past few years, yet they seem to get a lot of dirt thrown on them because they are super bloated (since they bring all their dependencies with them).

NixPkgs are also distro agnostic, but they are about as light as regular system packages (.deb/.rpm/.PKG) all the while having an impressive 80 000 packages in their repos.

I don't get why more people aren't using them, sure they do need some tweaking but so do flatpaks, my main theory is that there are no graphical installer for them and the CLI installer is lacking (no progress bar, no ETA, strange syntax) I'm also scared that there is a downside to them I dont know about.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Shareni@programming.dev 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Nixpkgs: the official nix repository

Nix shell: only creates a venv with extra packages

Nix develop: full environment configuration on top of nix shell, so you can for example set up project specific envars

Besides that, nix can also work for regular userland packages as an:

imperative package manager (same style as apt install)
declarative package manager (you make a list of packages, nix/home-manager ensures they're installed)

The selling point for me is that I can just write a list of packages, and have the bleeding edge versions installed on top of Debian. I can git that list and have all of my packages available on every device, no matter the os or distro.

[–] toasteecup@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Won't lie I'm getting sold on this via this discussion

[–] Shareni@programming.dev 2 points 9 months ago

Here's a part of my other comment because the docs are horrible:

It's just a list of packages, and an optional flake to control the repositories (stable/unstable) and add packages from outside of the official ones.

To update everything nix related I just run:

cd ~/dotfiles/nix/ && nix flake update && home-manager switch

It took me days to get to that point simply because you need to trawl through outdated and nixos resources. Those examples + home-manager manual will get you going in 10 minutes.